Daniella Chace

Her initial smoothie recipes were developed for cancer patients at the Cancer Treatment Centers of America’s facility in Seattle, Washington. “I needed to find a way to increase protein, antioxidants, minerals and essential fatty acids in patients’ diets before and after treatment,” Chace says. “Many of them had lost their appetites or had mouth sores which prevented much chewing. Smoothies provided the perfect vehicle for the nutrients they needed, and they loved drinking them because the cool, creamy nature of smoothies was comforting on their tender mouths.”

The results led her to her first book Smoothies for Life, co-authored with Maureen Keene, published in 1998. “In the first book, we focused on the flavor combinations of different fruits and milk alternatives such as almond milk, rice milk or soy milk and/or fruit juices,” she says. “We also experimented for months with supplements to find ways to add them to drinks without altering the flavor. When you are in the healing process you may need to take numerous pills, as there are often many supplements that help speed recovery, but it becomes difficult to swallow that many pills each day. We found quite a few supplements that can be added without altering the flavor of the smoothie, such as vitamin C, magnesium powder, microflora and protein powder.”

There were a number of reasons for her choice of Peter Gillham’s Natural Calm. First, she learned through her years of clinical practice that most people have magnesium deficiencies due to daily coffee intake and high-sugar, high-carbohydrate diets, and Natural Calm is a highly bioavailable source of magnesium. She had also found that many people taking calcium are not absorbing it due to their lack of magnesium. Then the flavors of Natural Calm, such as sweet lemon and raspberry-lemon, blend well into her smoothie recipes, adding just a hint of citrus without overriding the fruit flavors. And lastly, Natural Calm is widely available in many retail stores and through many natural healthcare practitioners, so she knew her readers would be able to find it easily.

The choice did not come easily, however. “To be honest, I am skeptical of supplement companies in general because there are so many sub-quality products on the market,” Chase says. “I use only a small handful of products in my office that I learned to trust while I was interning at the Bastyr Natural Health Clinic in Seattle, the Cancer Treatment and Wellness Center in Seattle and in my private practice. Those are Thorne Research, Douglas Labs, Peter Gillham’s Natural Calm and now Peter Gillham’s Organic Life Vitamins. I really pay attention to feedback from clients when I send them home with supplements, to be sure they are getting long-term benefits.  In addition, I rely on lab results, looking at blood work before and after mineral supplementation to ensure my clients are at optimal levels.”

Chace’s new book, More Smoothies for Life, came about due to a plethora of new medical nutrition studies. She read through thousands of these studies and built recipes around the research, and each recipe is designed to have a medicinal benefit when the smoothies are consumed on a regular basis. The book focuses on the prevention and treatment of health conditions such as fatigue, toxicity (detoxification), insomnia and hypoglycemia as well as fat burning.

Smoothies for Life, More Smoothies for Life and Daniella Chace’s other books are available in bookstores everywhere and at Amazon.com and at the Organic Connections Bookstore.